Buster Swords and Carrots
by MetaGiga
Summary: Cloud is one of the newest residents and already, he's the one of the coolest and strongest Smashers in the mansion. But what happens when he switches bodies with a not-so-significant Smasher? This happens. (Disclaimer inside!)
1. Chapter 1

**Everything goes to their respectful owners! I only own this FanFiction!**

* * *

The morning sun peaked through the window, beaming onto Cloud Strife's face as he slept. Life in the mansion was hectic. Every day, something would happen, from a banana eating contest between Donkey and Diddy to Little Mac trying to find a way to do his own Falcon Punch. Needless to say, this made the newest additions to the mansion very tired.

And as expected, Cloud hated mornings.

Pulling the covers over his head to escape the morning light, he noticed something... Off. For one thing, he felt a bit shorter that usual. Another thing: He didn't feel that in shape as he used to. This was definitely not normal.

Opening his eyes, he discovered a third thing that was wrong. He was seeing from the inside of a helmet.

"What..?"

He felt his neck as soon as he said that. What happened to his voice? It seemed much different... Flinging the covers off of himself, Cloud found himself in one of the weirdest situations he's ever been in.

He was surrounded by multicolored carrot people.

Cloud had seen these creatures around the mansion before. Usually, they were following Alph and Olimar. But why were they in his room?

It was at that moment when Cloud took a look around his room did he realize... He wasn't in his room at all. To make matters worse, his buster sword was nowhere to be seen. "What the _hell_?"

This voice was really getting to him. It sounded so familiar, yet he couldn't quite place his finger on it. Time to investigate. Sliding off of the bed, he was right about the first two things he had noticed. He was half as tall as he used to be... And his proportions seemed a bit different as well. He didn't feel buff anymore. It all vanished overnight.

After tripping over his own feet a couple of times due to the bizarre height change, Cloud stepped out of the room he was in.

The residents that were awake didn't seem to be different. They were just the same as always, it looked like. Upon seeing him, Princess Peach gave Cloud a warm smile as she looked down to him like he had always been short. "Why, good morning! Did you sleep well?" Peach asked sweetly.

The princess definitely was something. She was nice to practically the entire mansion (save for the villains). Her patience was amazing, but it shouldn't be tested too much. All in all, she was sweet as a... Well, a peach.

Cloud tried to stand up taller. "I slept alright, other than the fact I'm half the height I used to be. I'm not sure what happened, but I know that I haven't eaten any of those strange mushrooms."

Peach stared at Cloud, then began laughing. "I never thought you'd be so funny! I would have never imagined that you would joke about your height!"

"What?"

Still giggling, Peach waved him goodbye and skipped off happily.

What was going on? Everyone else was normal but him (or as normal as a bunch of Smashers could be). How could they not see that he had grown shorter overnight?! Cloud walked to another room to see if anyone would see the abnormality, but stopped.

In the hallways, there were framed pictures of well known game producers and titles. Naturally, one could faintly see their reflection in the glass.

The reflection that was shown to Cloud wasn't him.

It was a person that commanded the carrot people to fight.

The person reflecting back to Cloud?

Captain Olimar, the carrot tactician.

* * *

Olimar's experience wasn't too different from Cloud's when he awoke. The first thing he noticed were that his Pikmin were gone. Next, he took in the fact that he felt stronger and lean. After that realization, he knew for a fact that he was much taller...

Wait, where was his helmet?! How was he breathing?! Did the mansion get filled with his home's air?!

... No. That would be a terrible idea. Only R.O.B, Mega Man, Alph and him wouldn't have to go to the hospital. Koppai and Hocotate have similar air, after all. And the other two were robots, so... Wait, who cares?! If Olimar was breathing fine without his helmet, then that must mean...

Ignoring everything else, the space captain rushed out the door to see if everyone was alright. With a panicked look, he could see that everyone... Was perfectly fine.

... What? How could the others breathe? This was too weird. Either way, Olimar had to find his lost helmet.

"Excuse me, I seem to h—"

Olimar stopped. Was that really his voice?

Robin looked to him, confused, "What is it? Is something wrong?" he asked Olimar.

Oh, that's weird. He didn't have to look down to him. The space captain didn't know whether he should feel awkward or grateful for this growth spurt. Yet, Robin wasn't even questioning it. Was this normal to him?

"It... It's nothing," Olimar replied as he continued to think about what happened to his voice (and his helmet). However, something was getting on his nerves as he tried to think.

Blonde bangs were getting in the way of his vision. No matter how many times he tried, he just couldn't keep them from returning to the same spot.

Hold on. Bangs? _What_?

Now Olimar was getting scared. What was going on?! He needed to see what kind of bizarre prank was pulled on him.

Dashing to the nearest bathroom (thank god Wario hadn't used it yet), he closed the door and gazed into the mirror. Staring back at him? One of the newest residents of the mansion.

Cloud Strife.

It took him a few seconds to really process this.

When he did, however, he ran right out with a bewildered expression on his (Cloud's?) face. Many of the residents were a bit confused at what was going on with him, and as sorry as he felt for possibly ruining a chunk of Cloud's reputation, Olimar had to find Master Hand. He would even be satisfied with getting assistance from Crazy Hand! He didn't care!

Olimar wasn't really paying attention to anything other than the objective of getting help, and it cost him when he ran into someone.

"Ugh... I apologize for my disregard..." Olimar groaned as he lay on the floor.

"Just don't do it again... Agh... Damn, that hurt..."

Olimar blinked. Was that his voice that replied to him? Looking over to the victim he ran into, his entire body went numb.

He was looking at himself.

The person he had ran into. Was himself.

One mystery was solved. Olimar found his helmet... But in this scenario, who wouldn't be speechless?

Olimar's replica looked back to the very captain and his own eyes widened (wow, does he really look like that when he's surprised?).

"Who the hell are you?!"

"You tell me first, imposter!"

" _Imposter_?! You're the imposter around here!"

That's when they both went silent after taking in each other's words.

"... Olimar?"

"... Cloud?"

Both nodded in response to the other.

It was quiet once more.

"... WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"


	2. Chapter 2

Master Hand was busy sorting out paperwork by the time Cloud and Olimar ran into his office. The massive gloved hand turned towards them, seemingly annoyed. With a sigh, Master Hand set the paper he was holding on his desk.  
"May I help you?"  
Cloud was the first to respond. "What's going on? When I woke up this morning, I was this... This short, carrot-person throwing space employee—"  
"That was completely uncalled for. Also, the proper name for the 'carrot people', are Pikmin," Olimar scolded, taking offence to Cloud's description of both him and his companions. If Master Hand had a face, he would be giving the two an extremely confused look.

" _Excuse me_?"

That was all the massive hand could even say at the sudden change in the duo. "Since I'm probably the only one that can speak without insulting anyone in the room, I shall explain," Olimar stated, "The two of us, by reasons unknown, have switched outer appearances. We hope that you shall be able to solve this phenomenon."

This surprised Master Hand, actually.  
Manaphy had been taken out of the mansion due to continuous complaints from the residents about its 'Impish' nature. In other words, the Pokémon caused too much trouble.

So why were the two Smashers switched—oh.  
Oh wait. There was one that also knew the whereabouts of Manaphy besides him.  
Master Hand groaned. If he had a head, he would have gripped it in complete irritation. "I know who did it..."  
Both Cloud and Olimar looked intently at Master Hand, each awaiting to know the perpetrator.

"My twin. Crazy Hand. I swear, he's always had something wrong with him..."

Olimar took that in, then shook his head in denial. "Of course... Why didn't I think of him before?" he muttered. Cloud, however, was a bit confused. He had no idea what they were talking about.  
"Who is 'Crazy Hand'?" he asked, which made both of them look towards him.

"I understand why you don't know him yet, since you're new. Like I had said before, Crazy Hand is my twin," Master Hand explained, "He has always had something wrong with his mental stability. Always prone to extreme anger, never had any sense of reason, loves seeing the dismay of others from his 'jokes'... In other words, he's my opposite half."

Cloud would have guessed if his name was 'Crazy Hand', but one question remained. "How did he switch our bodies?"  
"Knowing him, he took the Pokéball containing Manaphy when we stashed it away. He must have thought that it would be hilarious to switch the most popular Smasher with... Not a crowd favorite one. No offense, Olimar."  
"It's fine. Not being selected for battles as much lets me check in with my family more often," Olimar replied to Master Hand.

This made the newest resident wide eyed. "You have a family?"  
"Yes. A wife and two kids."

This made fixing the dilemma Cloud's top priority. "We have to return to normal. I can't handle the thought having kids or a wife. Not yet, at least," he stated, trying to keep his cool. Olimar actually pitied him a little, then was overcome with the same desire to return to his former self. He loved his wife as much as he did his son and daughter. Being Cloud Strife would make him unable to visit them normally unless the swordsman could breathe on Hocotate without a helmet. Master Hand could see both Smasher's faces filled with distress. "I will try to find my brother and make him undo this. For now, the both of you must cope with your current bodies," he instructed.

This made Cloud sink even more into depression. What would Tifa think? Would she still accept him even if he was different on the outside? Aerith would definitely be enthusiastic about the carrots—or Pikmin—but what would she think about him in general? There was too much to worry about. Not just for Cloud, but for Olimar as well. "Ah, yes. And I'd like you both to explain to the rest of the inhabitants of your... Situation."

Master Hand's order resulted in Cloud's stress going sky high. He, of all the people in the mansion, had to admit that he was currently Olimar, of all the people in the mansion. Before he could protest, the giant hand pointed towards the door, indicating that he wanted the unfortunate Smashers out. As much as they wanted to stall the inevitable confession, they needed to just suck it up and get it over with.

Since breakfast was in a few minutes, most of the Smashers would already be in the dining hall. This would be the perfect opportunity to announce their switch to practically everyone in the mansion... That is, if they weren't laughed at for such a tale.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm tellin' you, man. Wario has got to have a bottomless pit in him like Kirby does."

"And why do you think that is?"

"Dude. Wario can eat his own bike. Tell me, where does it go?"

"... Out the other end to add to global warming."

As soon as Olimar and Cloud entered the dining hall, they were met with a hot discussion between Lucario and Little Mac. Neither one even wanted to interrupt them in fear of being dragged into it themselves. Besides, they had more important things to take care of.

Unfortunately, the room was filled with chaos.

Pit was arm wrestling Dark Pit (or Pittoo as he calls him), Bowser Jr. was fighting over who would get the last cinnamon bun with the rest of the Koopalings (when there were more being made already), Kirby had eaten King DeDeDe's massive plate and was currently being chased by the said king with his mallet, R.O.B was pestering everyone about what it was like to taste in order to gather data to act more 'realistic', and Falco had decided to hit on Bayonetta (which resulted in him being stomped on by an otherworldly foot and a "Try asking your mum about how to talk to a lady, little pheasant," from the umbral witch).

All in all, it was nothing new. But one problem was definitely clear: How were they going to get everyone's attention?

At this moment did Olimar remember his first friend when he first came to Smash Bros. He turned to Cloud, his serious expression fitting perfectly on the sword wielder's face. "I have someone that can help."

"I'm not sure Alph can-"

"No. It's not Alph. This one was my first actual friend when I arrived."

This interested Cloud. "Who is it?" he asked intently. The response was completely unexpected.

"Captain Douglas Falcon. Sure, he might have... 'Accidentally' killed an army of my Pikmin and is a bit straightforward, but we're closer than you would assume. If anything, he can probably quiet this entire room."

Cloud was completely confused. To him, Captain Falcon would be the last person Olimar would be friends with. Seeing his confusion, Olimar sighed, "I'll explain later. For now, go and tell him that you and I have an announcement to make."

The former buster sword wielder really didn't want to even make contact with the racer. He had only been inside the mansion for a short while and Falcon was one of many that got on his nerves. They never really talked much; the bounty hunter was too loud. However, he really had no other choice now. Standing up tall (or, at least as tall as he could make himself in Olimar's body), he made his way to Douglas Falcon, who was currently in a heated pancake eating contest with Bowser.

In a weird sort of way, Cloud was actually kind of impressed when Falcon beat the Koopa King.

"I REMAIN UNDEFEATED!" the racer proclaimed as Bowser lay on the floor, completely full and never wanting to see another pancake again. Falcon looked down to Cloud and gave him a hearty thumbs up. "Happy you could see me keep my title, 'lil bud!"

In return, Cloud forced a smile. "Yeah... Well, Ol—Cloud and I need to announce something to everyone. It's important."

Captain Falcon gave Cloud a suspicious look. "Don't tell me you're announcing that you're leaving your wife for—"

"Absolutely not," Cloud interrupted sternly, which resulted in the racer laughing. "You're so easy to tease, bud! I know you'd never leave her. You want the guys to quiet down so you can tell us something, yeah? Leave it to me," Falcon replied and stood up on the syrup-covered table he was at.

Taking a deep breath, the bounty hunter instantly got everyone's attention after shouting, "MY BUD HAS SOMETHING TO SAY, SO ALL OF YOU LISTEN UP!"

With the volume of the exclamation still ringing in his ears, Cloud stepped forward followed by Olimar. The two looked at the crowd of Smashers that now had their eyes on them. After a few seconds, Cloud sighed, "This is completely stupid..."

"I agree, but we have our orders to confess," Olimar replied, "Master Hand shouldn't be defied, after all."

Cloud hated that he was right. Taking a deep breath, the former swordsman told the confession.

"I am actually Cloud Strife. The one that looks like me is really Olimar. We... Swapped bodies."

Murmurs filled the room after that was said.

"Wasn't Manaphy exiled from the mansion?" Marth asked, which was followed by Ganondorf, "Yes. Good riddance to the pest, too."

"Swapping isn't really possible now, so why make up something like this?" Sonic inquired, a skeptical look in his eye. This set off Cloud, "Are you saying that we're lying about this shit? What the hell makes you think that we're 'joking'?"

This left the all of the Smashers stunned. The space pilot never swore, not even lightly. As for Olimar, hearing himself swear without his control was pretty... Unnerving, to say the least. Alph cautiously approached Cloud. "Captain Olimar..? Are you feeling okay?" he asked hesitantly. The real Olimar shook his head, "Alph, that isn't me. It's Cloud."

Alph quickly looked to him, to Cloud, then back to him with a suspicious look. "Prove it."

"Fine then. You and your crew rescued me from a golden monster keeping me hostage. Apparently, I had found your cosmic drive key in the assumption that it was treasure. I guess you could say that we saved each other," Olimar stated with a light laugh while Alph's eyes widened, "Your captain offered to drop my partner and I off at Hocotate on your way home to Koppai. Again, I apologize for his never ending hunger that cost you the temporary loss of your provisions."

"Wh-what did we do yesterday?!"

"Karaoke. My family honestly has no interest in it, as I've told you before... They don't know what they're missing."

After snickers from the crowd of Smashers subsided, Alph slowly turned to the group.

"... They're telling the truth."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Yes. Olimar is into karaoke. I'm not making that up at all. I will gladly prove it if you ask.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I've returned! First, I really want to apologize for the delay. I was honestly really busy with things and couldn't exactly keep a schedule. Also, I had apparently gotten a review asking to prove that Olimar likes karaoke... Well, take a look at his notes on the Harmonic Synthesizer from Pikmin 2.**

—

After the confirmation of both Olimar and Cloud swapping bodies, all of the mansion's residents were quite on edge. Was Crazy Hand going to strike again with Manaphy? Was the Pokémon loose in mansion? The biggest question that was present amongst everyone was how long it would be until Olimar and Cloud were back to normal. Usually, swaps caused by Manaphy were temporary, lasting about a few minutes. But when Crazy Hand was involved in anything like this, then it would never last for JUST a few minutes. Not by a long shot.

Currently, Cloud was absolutely feeling the humiliation suffocating him as he knew that his fellow Smashers were talking about this scenario. Possibly laughing about it as well... Well, who wouldn't? Cloud couldn't deny that he'd be laughing as well if it weren't him.

Since the events at breakfast, Captain Falcon had taken it upon himself to be Olimar's moral support. Which was also a strange sight since Cloud tended to distance himself away from everyone else. Yet, despite his obvious demeanor that screamed 'leave me alone', Cloud had his own company in the living room. That engineer guy that also used Pikmin... Ralph? Alph? Yeah, Alph.

"Uh... Sorry this happened to you," the Koppaite began awkwardly, which resulted in a silent stare from Cloud. Secretly, he was glad that he didn't have to look up to talk to him, unlike most of the Smashers. Not like he'd admit that to anyone. Seeing as he wasn't going to get a response, the rookie Pikmin tactician decided to see if he could strike up any kind of conversation with the guy, "So, um... What do you like to do?"

"Be alone," was what Cloud responded, hoping to drive Alph off. On the contrary, it did the opposite. "Well, I guess you're gonna have a pretty hard time if that's the case. Olimar always has Pikmin following him around," he replied with a light laugh, which made Cloud groan, both at the thought of having walking carrots following him around and the fact that Alph didn't leave. Either the engineer was extremely dense or had major guts... Now that he had mentioned it, Cloud could see a few beady eyes peeking out at him from the other side of the living room's doorframe occasionally.

The Pikmin knew that Cloud wasn't Olimar. It was obvious from their wariness towards him.

Alph could see that Cloud was fixated on the nervous Pikmin and smiled softly. "It's okay, guys. He's not gonna hurt you," the Koppaite assured the small carrot people. This assurance was enough to get the Pikmin to hesitantly make their way over to the two, stopping occasionally to see if Cloud was going to make a move at them.

As soon as the Pikmin were close enough, Alph gave the little guys a pat on the head, then turned to the former buster sword wielder. "Don't worry, okay? They'll only attack you if you attack them."

"Or if you order them to attack me."

"You really think that I'd tell Olimar's own Pikmin to attack his body? That's just wrong."

Okay, that remark made Cloud huff out a laugh, "That's a thought. Olimar's Pikmin having a revolution against him."

Alph blinked, thought about it, then began to snicker as well. For some reason, this exchange made Cloud feel... Happy? Was he honestly befriending Alph? No. He had his own friends and the engineer wasn't going to be one of them. The kid was nice, but not someone who could be his friend.

Yet, the Koppaite reminded him of a few of his friends from back home. It was weird...

—

With Olimar and Captain Falcon, the two were walking around the mansion, chatting about various things... Or rather, Falcon was going on about everything that was on his mind.

"It's crazy how we're pretty much the same height now, bud! But, who's taller now? Me or you? I think it's still me, but it's still insane!" the racer exclaimed as they sauntered through the halls. In return Olimar shifted awkwardly. "Yes, well, I hope that this gets resolved soon. I would rather be myself than not," he admitted, giving himself a once-over for what had to be the fiftieth time that morning. It had been so long since he had dealt with Manaphy's antics. While the feeling of being able to breathe regularly was nice, it still was unnerving.

The first time Manaphy had appeared in one of Olimar's battles back when he was new and the Pokémon hadn't been banned, he had thought that he was going to suffocate. It was Link who he had switched with and he wouldn't ever forget what happened. As soon as Olimar couldn't feel his helmet, he had dropped to the floor gasping for breath, believing that he was suffocating. It... Wasn't one of his most finest moments.

He had lost that match.

As he and the racer continued on, Olimar couldn't help but miss his trusty Pikmin. After all, they had saved his life countless times and he truly felt vulnerable without them, despite now owning a buster sword. Captain Falcon could see his friend's unease and have him a firm pat of the shoulder. "Hey, don't you worry about a thing, 'kay? This'll get sorted out. For now, just bask in the moment of all this!" he said to Olimar with a thumbs up.

This caused the former freight captain to smile to his friend. "Thanks, Douglas."

"Not a problem, bud. Be sure to smile like that tons! I gotta get a few good pictures to keep before Cloud goes back to being a zombie!"

... Okay, Olimar _did_ admit. Cloud had about as much emotion on his face as a stump. He'd never say that aloud, of course. The last thing he wanted was drama in the mansion over something as stupid as that.

After thinking about it for a bit, Olimar sighed, "When do you think Master Hand will be about to fix this?"

"Don't know. But don't underestimate him. I've been here for a while and he's no pushover," Falcon replied, glancing at his friend.

Olimar already knew that, but there was also someone else.

Crazy Hand was no pushover either.


End file.
